Are you involved at your church? Do you want to preach better sermons, become a better Upward coach, or teach middle schoolers more effectively?

Here are the 3 P's I personally use pastoring First Baptist Moreland. These are proven, positive and provide a platform for leading and teaching children, students or adults.

1). Prayer. You should be praying for God to give you the words to say. Ask God to use you as His messenger - be filled with His Spirit. Pray for the people you'll be teaching. Pray specially for last Wednesday's prayer requests. Pray for your students to bring a friend next week.

Prayer reveals your dependance on God. A pastor, deacon, or Sunday School teacher faces a great temptation to depend on prior knowledge and experience rather than the power of God. You must make time for prayer, it will never "just happen." Praying in the car driving to work is not dependance on God.

2). Preparation. Do you write "Saturday Night Specials?" Do you plan your Sunday School lessons during the worship service? God knows if you're not prepared. The people you're teaching will know as well. You'll begin repeating yourself, or begin proclaiming Christian Cliches, such as, "Don't put God in a box." Or, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." Facebook and Twitter are overflowing with Christian Cliches.

You want to bring a fresh, prepared message from God every Sunday and Wednesday. You can be prepared by diving into God's Word every day - searching the Scriptures about the topic you're planning to teach. You want to push 1-3 main points of your lesson. If you did an exit interview of everyone leaving the classroom, asking them, "What did you just learn?" How you answer that question should shape your preparation.

3). Promotion. You must be continually inviting new people to attend, contacting missing members, evangelizing students, using social media to promote your message, and informing your audience of upcoming messages and events. You're the walking billboard for the single adult ministry in Hope, Arkansas - every single adult within a 10 miles radius should know your plans. It drives me bananas when someone says, "Daniel, I had no idea that was going on."

I believe the church has the best and only life changing message (Romans 6:4). You must promote your message with passion, purpose and plainness.

This is challenging for many leaders, because you feel you're promoting yourself. You have to view promotion as conviction of your message. If you've prayed and arrive prepared to preach - you'll find joy in promoting a message from God.